Neuromolecular responses to social challenge: common mechanisms across mouse, stickleback fish, and honey bee.
Clare C Rittschof, Syed Abbas Bukhari, Laura G Sloofman, Joseph M Troy, Derek Caetano-Anollés, Amy Cash-Ahmed, Molly Kent, Xiaochen Lu, Yibayiri O Sanogo, Patricia A Weisner, Huimin Zhang, Alison M Bell, Jian Ma, Saurabh Sinha, Gene E Robinson, Lisa Stubbs
Author Information
Clare C Rittschof: Institute for Genomic Biology, Departments of Entomology, Neuroscience Program, Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; and ccr22@illinois.edu generobi@illinois.edu ljstubbs@illinois.edu.
Syed Abbas Bukhari: Institute for Genomic Biology, Illinois Informatics Institute.
Laura G Sloofman: Institute for Genomic Biology, Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, and.
Joseph M Troy: Institute for Genomic Biology, Illinois Informatics Institute.
Derek Caetano-Anollés: Institute for Genomic Biology, Cell and Developmental Biology.
Amy Cash-Ahmed: Institute for Genomic Biology, Departments of Entomology.
Molly Kent: Institute for Genomic Biology, Neuroscience Program.
Xiaochen Lu: Institute for Genomic Biology, Cell and Developmental Biology.
Yibayiri O Sanogo: Institute for Genomic Biology, Genomics Core, Lerner Research Institute, The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH 44195.
Patricia A Weisner: Institute for Genomic Biology, Neuroscience Program.
Huimin Zhang: Institute for Genomic Biology, Cell and Developmental Biology.
Alison M Bell: Institute for Genomic Biology, Neuroscience Program, Animal Biology, Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801;
Jian Ma: Institute for Genomic Biology, Bioengineering, and.
Saurabh Sinha: Institute for Genomic Biology, Departments of Entomology, Computer Science.
Gene E Robinson: Institute for Genomic Biology, Departments of Entomology, Neuroscience Program, Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801; ccr22@illinois.edu generobi@illinois.edu ljstubbs@illinois.edu.
Lisa Stubbs: Institute for Genomic Biology, Neuroscience Program, Cell and Developmental Biology, ccr22@illinois.edu generobi@illinois.edu ljstubbs@illinois.edu.
Certain complex phenotypes appear repeatedly across diverse species due to processes of evolutionary conservation and convergence. In some contexts like developmental body patterning, there is increased appreciation that common molecular mechanisms underlie common phenotypes; these molecular mechanisms include highly conserved genes and networks that may be modified by lineage-specific mutations. However, the existence of deeply conserved mechanisms for social behaviors has not yet been demonstrated. We used a comparative genomics approach to determine whether shared neuromolecular mechanisms could underlie behavioral response to territory intrusion across species spanning a broad phylogenetic range: house mouse (Mus musculus), stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus), and honey bee (Apis mellifera). Territory intrusion modulated similar brain functional processes in each species, including those associated with hormone-mediated signal transduction and neurodevelopment. Changes in chromosome organization and energy metabolism appear to be core, conserved processes involved in the response to territory intrusion. We also found that several homologous transcription factors that are typically associated with neural development were modulated across all three species, suggesting that shared neuronal effects may involve transcriptional cascades of evolutionarily conserved genes. Furthermore, immunohistochemical analyses of a subset of these transcription factors in mouse again implicated modulation of energy metabolism in the behavioral response. These results provide support for conserved genetic "toolkits" that are used in independent evolutions of the response to social challenge in diverse taxa.
